Thermocouple extension wire

ABSTRACT

A THERMOCOUPLE EXTENSION WIRE COMPOSITION COMPRISING, AS EXPRESSED IN PERCENT BY WEIGHT: NICKEL 16%-20%; MANGANESE 1.30%-2.00%; COBALT 0.70%-1.70%; BALANCE COPPER. A PAIR OF THERMOCOUPLE EXTENSION WIRED, ONE WIRE HAVING THE ABOVE COMPOSITION, THE OTHER WIRE BEING COMPOSED ESSENTIALLY OF IRON, EXHIBIT A DIFFERENTIAL ELECTROMOTIVE FORCE SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE ELECTROMOTIVE FORCE DEVELOPED BY TYPE K THERMOCOUPLE BETWEEN 32* TO 400*F.

Aug. 15, 1972 I L l u o o o 8 A EMF. IN MICROVOLTS TEH PO WANG THERMOQOUPLE EXTENSION WIRE Original Filed Dec. 16. 1969 TEMPERATURE IN F IN VENTOR. TEH PO WANG- ATTORNEY 3,684,584 THERMOCOUPLE EXTENSION WIRE Teh P Wang, Cedar Grove, N.J., assignor to Wilbur B. Driver Company Original application Dec. 16, 1969, Ser. No. 885,588. Divided and this application Mar. 15, 1971, Ser. No.

Int. Cl. H01v 1/14 US. Cl. 136241 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A thermocouple extension wire composition comprising, as expressed in percent by weight: nickel l6%20%; manganese 1.30%-2.00%; cobalt 0.70%-1.70%; balance copper.

A pair of thermocouple extension wires, one wire having the above composition, the other wire being composed essentially of iron, exhibit a differential electromotive force substantially equal to the electromotive force developed by Type K thermocouple between 32 to 400 F.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a divisional application of Ser. No. 885,588, filed Dec. 16, 1969, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Thermocouples are commonly employed in high temperature measurement and control. One such thermocouple employs an alloy containing 95% nickel, balance small amounts of manganese, aluminum, silicon and cobalt as the negative thermoelement and an alloy of 10% chromium, balance essentially, nickel as the positive thermo-element. This thermocouple is known as a Type K thermocouple.

Thermocouples are usually spaced from the measurement or control instrumentation by distances which can be six feet or more, and thus extension wires are used to connect the thermocouples to the instrumentation. Because of the high cost of nickel and nickel based alloys, extension wires for Type K thermocouples can be composed of less expensive metals or alloys.

It is well known to use as extension wires, for the Type K thermocouple, an iron wire as the positive thermocouple extension wire and a copper-nickel alloy wire as the negative thermocouple extension wire. This last named alloy contains about 16% nickel, balance copper.

In the normal installation, the thermocouples are connected to a header junction, and the extension wires are connected between the junction and the instrumentation. In most industrial applications, the temperature of the header junction will not exceed 400 F. while the temperature at the instrumentation will not fall below 32 Ideally, to avoid inaccuracy, the extension wires and the thermocouple should have matched thermoelectric characteristics at which the differential electromotive force '(EMF) developed between the two extension wires should be equal, both in polarity and magnitude, to the differential EMF developed between the two thermocouple wires at any temperature within the range 32 F. to 400 F.

I have found that the use of copper-nickel alloy wire as a negative thermocouple extension wire together with an iron wire as the positive thermocouple extension wire does not provide an ideal match for Type K thermocouples.

In my invention, I employ a new alloy composition for the negative extension wire which, when used to- .United States Patent O M 3,684,584 Patented Aug. 15, 1972 gether with an iron wire as the positive extension, produces a much better match for Type K thermocouples.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with my invention, a negative thermocouple extension wire comprises, as expressed in percent by weight: l6%20% nickel; 1.30%2.00% manganese; 0.70%-'l.70% cobalt; balance copper. Small amounts of deoxidizers selected from the class consisting of boron, magnesium and silicon can be added to this composition.

The differential EMF between an iron wire used as the positive thermocouple extension wire and my negative thermocouple extension wire, as measured over the temperature range 32 F. to 400 F. is substantially matched with the EMFs generated by Type K thermocouples.

BRI EF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The accompanying figure is a graph showing the match between the differential EMFs of my invention and a Type K couple as a function of temperature in comparison with the existing copper-nickel alloy.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS My negative extension wire comprises l6%20% nickel; 1.30%2.00% manganese; 0.70%1.70% cobalt; balance copper. A first illustrative composition is 18% nickel; 1.35% manganese; 0.90% cobalt; balance copper, which can also contain, as deoxidizers, 0.04% silicon, 0.03% magnesium and .01% boron.

In the figure, curve 10 illustrates the temperature- EMF characteristic of a Type K thermocouple; curve 12 illustrates the temperature-EMF characteristic of the prior art combination of positive and negative extension wires; and curve 14 illustrates the temperature-EMF characteristic of the combination of an iron positive extension wire and my alloy as the negative extension wire.

It is thus apparent from this figure that curve 14 provides a much improved match with curve 10 as compared to the match obtained between curves 12 and 10.

What is claimed is:

1. A thermocouple system comprising a Type K thermocouple having a positive leg and a negative leg, a positive extension wire of iron connected to said positive leg, and connected to said negative leg a negative extension wire of an alloy consisting essentially of, in percent by weight:

OTHER REFERENCES Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 2nd ed., vol. 19, Nov. 22, 1969, pp. 786-788.

CARL D. QUARFORTH, Primary Examiner H. E. BEHR'END, Assistant Examiner UJS. Cl. X.R. 136-227, 236 

